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Police Find Malnourished Children Surrounded By Feces

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DENVER (CBS4) – A Denver couple has been arrested after their four children were found living in filth.

Wayne Sperling, 66, and Lorinda Bailey, 36, are facing charges of felony child abuse. Prosecutors say the children, ages 2, 4, 5 and 6, were found in an apartment. They say the children were malnourished and surrounded by feces.

The children could not speak and a medical report later showed they were also not toilet trained.

Officers say the smell coming out of the couple’s apartment was unbearable. They got involved when one of the children was taken to the hospital for a cut and the doctor noticed the child needed a bath.

“The hallway was as dirty probably as the inside of their house,” said Richard Lucero, whose brother lives in the building.

According to an arrest report, officers found “one to two inches of cat feces both old and new under the children’s bunk bed.” The wood floor was also “soaked with cat urine.” It also states the floors of the apartment were littered with “dead flies” and the flies that were alive covered every surface.

“I noticed they used to leave the window open and the kids were always looking out the shades,” Lucero said.

Sperling and Bailey are being held on 5,000 bond and are scheduled for court on Thursday. The children are in protective care.